Ex top lawyer who bilked fintech company gets three years in prison

(Reuters) – A former top lawyer for a California-based fintech company, who used its funds to pay for dog boarding and other personal expenses, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison, according to a new court filing.

Brooke Solis was ordered by Judge James Donato in San Francisco federal court, to pay $500,000 in restitution to Good Money Inc., which was listed in the filing as victim of the wire fraud.

While acting as general counsel and chief business officer, Solis submitted fake invoices to her employer from a shell company called The Paralegal Group LLC, which she owned, according to a Tuesday Department of Justice statement.

Even after leaving the company, she diverted a total of $400,000 from her ex-employer to her personal checking account, the Justice Department said.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in August 2020, just two days after leaving her job, Solis submitted a $4,575 reimbursement request to her ex-employer for the boarding of two dogs. She immediately approved the request herself and received the money soon after via another LLC that she controlled.

The DOJ said Solis pleaded guilty to all six counts of wire fraud for which she was charged in July. The details of a plea agreement were not immediately available on Wednesday, though Solis surrendered her law license, according to the DOJ.

Douglas Horngrad, Solis’ attorney, said he expects that she will only serve about 18 months thanks to good behavior and other Bureau of Prison programs.

He called her “a good person and a wonderful mother, who under very adverse circumstances made some very poor choices.”

The case is United States v. Solis, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:21-cr-00297

For Solis: Douglas Horngrad and Sam O’Keefe of Law Office of Douglas Horngrad

For the U.S.: Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Harris

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